Guy and Paul had fun as always media training last week; a new CEO at an established client, the job was to put him through his paces, highlight areas that needed work and – in this case – stress test the messaging.
The new CEO was great and asked them tfor a fun bit of follow-up. “Could you,” he said, “make a list of ten bastard questions journalists might ask?”
Fun being a b*st*rd
Hah, of course we could! And we did. And we’d urge all our colleagues in the public relations industry to do the same for their clients. It’s a given that clients and journalists should produce and receive the FAQ list, it should be available on the website so editorial staff can get to the more commonplace queries quickly and easily.
But we’d suggest PR colleagues to do the other thing too – think of “ten bastard questions” and work out how the client is supposed to deal with them when inevitably they crop up. No lying, no “no comment”, journalists will need proper answers, just make sure the client is prepared.
We had fun writing a load of questions we’d actually be embarrassed to ask in person. So, what are the questions you’re really hoping the media won’t ask – and do you have a strategy for when they do?
Meanwhile we might just develop an entire half-day course and call it “Ten Bastard Questions”, it’s too good a title to use only once..!
